Lot 27

Cliff DeYoung, Los Angeles

If you study the sunflowers at the bottom of this painting, you'll notice one rising half again taller than the others. For me, it has always symbolized Barry's wit, intelligence, and comic genius standing unmistakably above the rest.
I met Barry Humphries in London in 1980 while we were filming Shock Treatment, the musical comedy from the creators of The Rocky Horror Show. We shared the same car to and from the studio, and during those daily rides we quickly developed a genuine friendship. Not long afterward, I saw his Dame Edna performance and became an enthusiastic admirer of his work.
Throughout the 1980s, I returned often to London for film work, and my wife and I spent many memorable occasions with Barry, his wife Diane, and their sons. There were Sunday lunches, dinners, and evenings at the theater. We spent a week with them at a manor house Barry had rented in Robertsbridge, just south of London. Barry found it particularly amusing that the English butler, Thorley, seemed distinctly put out by the prospect of serving a house full of Australians and Americans.
In the 1990s, Barry was a frequent presence in Los Angeles, performing his Dame Edna stage shows, hosting a weekly television chat show, and appearing regularly on Ally McBeal. During those years, we spent considerable time together with the boys and my daughter, taking trips to a dude ranch in Solvang, visiting Palm Springs and touring Alcatraz in San Francisco.
I've always felt Barry would have had no objection to my selling this painting. A few years after he gave it to me, he noticed it hanging on my wall. He paused for a moment, smiled, and said, "You know, Cliff, this picture might be worth something when I'm dead."
It was the usual Barry one-liner---delivered dry and a bit shocking for comic effect.
Cliff DeYoung
Los Angeles
2025